"At the moment it is difficult to say because there are... by the end of March there are funding needs that have to be covered, about four billion euros. The Greek government is requesting an extension of the T-bill issues by a few billion in order to cover these funding needs. I think that everything has to be decided in the coming Eurogroup meetings, whether this request will be approved or not."

14. Various of banks and people at ATMs

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Manos Giakoumis, Head analyst at MacroPolis:

"I think there's not any issue with Greek banks regarding their liquidity, at least for the next two weeks, but all has to be decided by the ECB (European Central Bank), whether the ELA (emergency liquidity assistance) programme can be further extended beyond the end of February."

16. Various of finance ministry

17. People walking

18. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Antonis Alvertis, Vox pop:

"They will try to succeed. Of course we don't know what the outcome will be. We hope it will be as good as possible. We're all with the government. I think all of Greece is."

19. People in square

20. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Anna Ikonomou, Vox pop:

"No, I don't fear anything. No one should fear anything. We should have trust in the new government and we will all help out. Fear and despair don't lead anywhere. We're optimistic and I believe things will go well."

21. People crossing street

Storyline

Greeks appeared optimistic on Monday after their prime minister proclaimed an end to austerity, even if it puts the country on a collision course with Europe.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras presented his government's policy statement to Greek lawmakers, which included, as he had forewarned, all the promises made by his radical left party Syriza in its manifesto before last month's election.

Greeks walking through central Athens on Monday were hopeful the prime minister's policy programme would bring better days after years of austerity.

Manos Giakoumis, head analyst at the financial website MacroPolis, said it was difficult to gauge the practical impact of Tsipras' speech because everything depended on forthcoming meetings, including this week's Eurogroup and EU summit.

Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange opened sharply lower after Greece's new government renewed a pledge to seek bailout debt forgiveness, despite growing pressure from European lenders to stick to austerity.

Amid wider European losses, Greek shares were down 4.2 percent in early trading on Monday, while borrowing rates were back up, pushing yields on the country's three-year bonds to more than 18 percent.

Tsipras argues that Greece's debt would be increasingly unsustainable unless it received generous repayment relief that would allow its battered economy to recover.